Recording capabilities of in-home devices such as a digital video recorder (DVR) have resulted in the storage of entire programs which are typically thirty minute or sixty minute segments, but some recorded programming may be several hours in length (e.g., movies, live events, sporting events, etc.). Current DVR interfaces require that the entirety of a program be recorded and stored at the DVR device. Thus, DVR storage capacity may quickly become scarce when several full-length pieces of content are recorded, and a user may be prevented from recording other programs of interest.
In some instances, a user might only be interested in one or more segments of a program (e.g., highlights, favorite scenes, etc.), and the user might desire that these one or more segments be permanently, or for at least an extended period of time, saved at a DVR device. The one or more segments may be only a fraction of the total length of the associated program. Moreover, using current DVR interfaces, playback of desired content segments is hampered as it requires searching through the rest of the piece of content using trickplay functions (e.g., fast-forward, rewind, skip, etc.) to get to the right location within the content.
With currently deployed DVR and set-top box (STB) technology, in order for a user to record a short video segment, the consumer typically has to be next to the DVR device or STB during a live transmission (or retransmission, if offered) and needs to press ‘Record’ and ‘Stop’ buttons located on the DVR device or STB precisely at the targeted start and stop points of the desired video segment. Besides the issue of requiring the user to be present to manually perform the recording, the user is further expected to have prior knowledge that an upcoming segment of the live content is going to be a segment that the user will want saved as an individual segment, which is problematic during a first viewing of the content.
It is commonplace that multimedia content is shared between multiple subscriber devices. For example, a central device such as a gateway device or set-top box may be configured to share multimedia content stored on the device with one or more companion devices including media players and mobile client devices such as a smart phone or tablet. Content that is recorded at a central device may be transcoded to a format that is compatible with one or more client devices, and the transcoded content may be transferred to one or more of the client devices. For example, a client device may be synchronized with a central device, wherein content stored at the central device is transferred to the client device for later consumption by a user.
Content selected for delivery to a client device may be conditioned (e.g., processed or transcoded) according to the playback attributes of a client device designated for receiving the content (e.g., mobile device, tablet, etc.). After the content is conditioned to suit the needs of the client device, the conditioned content may be transferred to the client device. Where both the central device and client device have wireless capabilities, the content may be transferred to the client device over a wireless network. The conditioning processes may be time consuming, depending on the quality and/or length of the content and may be carried out by the central device as background processes over an extended period of time. Moreover, one or more users may wish to condition a piece of content for delivery to a plurality of companion devices, and the content may have to be conditioned differently for each of the plurality of companion devices based on the playback and/or delivery requirements associated with the devices.
Some multimedia content like movie, show or sporting event recordings can be of such a size that it may take a large amount of time to synchronize the content to a companion device over a wireless connection (e.g., Wi-Fi). A user may benefit from the ability to have content automatically synchronized to a companion device. However, the synchronization process may be a lengthy one, and the companion device may be within range of the DVR device or associated access point for only a limited duration. Therefore, in an effort to reduce the time required to deliver content to a companion device, it is desirable to give the user an option to synchronize one or more segments of content to a companion device in order to allow the user to view segments of interest at the companion device and to make a determination whether to request synchronization of the entire piece of content.
Currently, DVR devices do not permit a user to create, organize, playback, or synchronize individual segments of content that are of interest to the user. Therefore, a need exists for methods and systems operable to facilitate an efficient creation of partial recordings of content.
Like reference numbers and designations in the various drawings indicate like elements.